Getting Started tfHotel API TOs, OTAs, TMC

In order to discuss and have a tfHotel API Agreement in place please contact our Sales Team at: sales@travelfusion.com.

Step 2: XML API and Support during the Integration Process

The XML API
The XML API is comprised of 2 parts. The ‘Search Stage’ is supported by our ‘Fast API’, and the ‘Booking Stage’ is managed by our ‘Hotel booking API’:

In the ‘Search Stage’ you will need to submit the search command, apply the filters, and get the results feed. Following that, there are four more stages:

Details: where you select the result you wish to book and get the details and the requirements;

Terms: where you submit the guests’ information and payment method;

Booking: where you submit the booking and receive confirmation You can also cancel a booking (terms and conditions apply);

Cancel: where you submit the cancellation command and received confirmation for cancellation.

We kindly ask our customers to take the time to read the entire document that details all specifications, from the start to finish, before starting the integration. It is important to understand the wide spectrum of features tfHotel API offers before starting the design and the coding. Please note that a list of the suppliers we support can be found online at: http://www.travelfusion.com/supplier-list/#1.

Access and Login
In order to send XML requests and receive responses, first you will need to have an account with us. If you are an existing Travelfusion customer, you can use your existing account details to login. As a new customer of Travelfusion, our team would be happy to provide you with a login. At the same time you will also receive a login to our reports system. Please note this is a different login to the API’s. Our API support team is there to answer your technical questions. Feel free to contact us

API Usage
The following commands need to be sent to the URL http://api.travelfusion.com/api-v2/. Please always refer to the following specifications:

GetHotelsRequest

GetBookingsIdRequest

Once you received the response (GetBookingsIdResponse), you will need to submit the remaining commands listed below to api.travelfusion.com/XML:

StartDetailsHotel

CheckDetailsHotel

StartTermsHotel

CheckTermsHotel

StartBookingHotel

CheckBookingHotel

Step 3: The Integration Process
We are able to identify a number of stages in the API Integration Process. The time it would take to complete the integration is entirely up to you. Our aim is to give you a responsive and dedicated support throughout the process. Here are the main stages of the Integration Process:

A. Design and Test
In this stage of the process we kindly ask you to

Study our API documentation and the features it provides. Based on your understanding of the API’s features you will be able to design the implementation based on your preferences.
Integrate against our live environment. Integrate with the Search Stage first and evaluate the results.
Integrate with the Booking Stage including all terms and conditions and validate them at your end. Test with the FakeBooking functionality. When you submit a FakeBookings, the payment details are not sent to the supplier. This enables you to test all the booing cases (successful booking, failed bookings, unconfirmed bookings, duplicate booking) and check that your system is able to support them. Please note that we will not be able to refund any real bookings that you make. Therefore please make sure that you only send us FakeBookings, and never real bookings.

In addition to the above, please note that many suppliers do not validate the credit card details in the Booking Stage hence even if a booking is made using a dummy card the reservation may go through as being successful. This is the reason why we only allow FakeBookings to be submitted during the this stage of the Integration Process and not real bookings even if a dummy card is used as a payment. In the event that you submit a real booking even with a dummy card please cancel the reservation immediately by using the cancellation command. Please also note that we do not allow load tests at any point in time of the Integration Process.

B. Going Live Authorisation
In this stage of the process we also require that you

Complete our ‘Going Live Check List’ for Travelfusion Hotel API. This is a questionnaire designed to ensure you made the right choices during the course of the integration. We also ask you to check your design and the integration with the ‘Going Live Check List’, to ensure that you adhered to our best practices and according to our documentation’s guidelines. We may ask you to make changes to your integration, if there are any potential risks identified. This stage is a prerequisite of going live and implement.Make a test booking on your staging environments. We will need to access your staging environments and test few bookings to familiarize ourselves with your setup and the way, in which you chose to integrate our booking flow into your processes. We will ask you to set up a one-hour online session with our team so that we can observe your command flow and comment if needed.

Step 4: Support and Communication
This step is critical in order to enable appropriate and relevant support following tfHotel API implementation and entails:

Set up operational points of contact. We will need to establish the operational, technical and booking support channels in your organization. We will also introduce our own operational points of contact to you.

Implement Bug Reporting Tool. All operational and technical issues are managed via our bug reporting system: JIRA. You will be able to have multiple logins for the various people in your organization who would need to report issues to us. Please provide full XML logs when reporting issues to our team. Without such information we will not be able to investigate the problem. If you are an existing customer please use your current JIRA account.

Managing Live Booking Support Issues: All live bookings support issues are managed by our booking support team that will work closely with your designated call and support centers. Your teams will be able to access the bookings made under your account using the online admin tool.

Step 5: Grant Permission to go Live
In this step we provide you with the green light to switch on live booking traffic. In this stage, our team will be monitoring your bookings and traffic.

Step 6: After going live
Our team will continue to provide support for any issue you may encounter. We also monitor your traffic closely and alert you as issues arise

Support - Extra Booking Features
tfHotel API reflects the features of the suppliers it supports. The following features are supported as custom supplier parameters detailed in the specification document:

Bed Type: Specifies the bed type the end user requires. For example: regular bed, extra bed, parents bed, child extra bed.Purpose Of Travel: Specifies purpose of / reason for travel of the end user. Example: Business, Leisure.Message To The Hotel: A non-binding request that will be sent to the hotel. The hotel will reply directly to the contact details submitted for this booking. Example: any free text for special service request.Supplier Business Account Card Login: Login to the supplier system under your account with the supplier, identifies the booked to the hotel supplier.Supplier Negotiated Fares Code: This enables to receive special negotiated fares when the unique code obtained from the supplier is submitted using this parameter.Frequent Guest Number: Similar to frequent flier scheme, this feature enables customers to receive loyalty rewards when the unique number issued by the supplier is submitted using this parameter.Direct Billing: Indicating that the user agreeing to be billed directly by the supplier, per their agreement. This may also require a special authorisation code issues by the supplier.